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'Driver inattention' at root of 3 deadly transport truck crashes: OPP

A five vehicle crash on Highway 48 in Georgina that resulted in the deaths of two people (Handout/OPP)

The Ontario Provincial Police say it’s “driver inattention at its worst” after laying a total of 14 charges against three people in connection with three separate transport truck crashes that claimed the lives of six people on Ontario highways this past summer.

The OPP says in all three incidents, transport trucks travelling on a highway crashed into the back of traffic which had stopped or slowed down on the roadway.

Two of the collisions occurred on Highway 401, one near Port Hope on Aug. 3, and the other in Chatham-Kent on July 30. The third collision occurred on Highway 48 in the Town of Georgina on July 27.

“This series of horrific collisions is driver inattention at its worst and the most tragic reminder in recent history of the tremendous toll on the lives of innocent citizens when commercial transport truck drivers are not paying full attention to the road,” said OPP commissioner Vince Hawkes.

“We are putting drivers on notice that the OPP will pursue every investigative avenue following serious collisions and hold at-fault drivers accountable to the full extent of the law.”

The OPP says so far this year, they’ve responded to more than 5,000 transport truck-related crashes. In 56 of those crashes, 67 lives were lost. In 2015 and 2016, the OPP says a total of 155 people were killed in similar crashes.